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| I have a grouping of 4 large Horse Chestnuts in my yard. They are taller than the 3 story house. Last year they flowered wonderfully - see picture below. This year I was waiting and waiting and didn't see anything. Then one day walking I saw a bloom on the ground. I looked up and way at the top, there were some blooms. But only about the top 1/8th of the tree. And now they are gone. :( Any idea why this happened? I'm in the NYC suburbs (zone 6 I think?) and we had a very mild winter and and a warm spring, so maybe that affected things? Though I think it's odd that the top of the tree did fine??
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Most likely the buds froze on the lower part of the tree. I observed with same phenomenon on my Shellbark Hickory tree the last Sunday in April, when it got down to 26 degrees right when the tree was blooming full of male catkins and female flowers and emerging new leaves. The tree was very severely zapped by the freeze about 3/4ths of the way up the tree. The new growth was all brown and limp the next day except in the very top 4th of the tree, where it was still green. The tree is close to utility wires and is significantly taller than the wires. Because cold air sinks and warm air rises, it is obvious to me that it wasn't as cold that high up as it was at ground level. It's certainly possible that this is what happened to your tree, the emerging blooms were killed by frost but the highest few were far enough up that it wasn't cold enough to kill them. |
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| I concur with denninmi. |
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| I would have concurred with denninmi if we had been talking about Carya sp. and not Aesculus sp. While hickories are very sensitive to frost (after bud break), Aesculus are not. Every year in this area, Aesculus sp. have typically broken bud well before last frost and still flower without issue. Carya, on the other hand, don't usually break bud until later....only occasionally experiencing a late frost and visible damage. It is still possible that frost/freeze damaged the Horse chestnut's flower buds. If that's what happened, I would expect to see SEVERE damage on other tree species in the area. |
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| Thanks for the replies... We did have an early warm spring, then some very cold/frost days. However, I do have a flowering cherry tree and its blooms were fine. We did not have drought, leaf drop, mildew, or insect issues last year. We do have some issue where the leaves turn yellow and ugly late in the summer. But I had to have a dead tree removed and when I asked 2 different tree companies about the Horse Chestnut's leaf issue, they both told me it's a typical issue for them in this area. They could treat with some sort of oil, but it was just an added cost that neither company deemed necessary to the health of the tree. Unfortunately, I don't see many other HC in the area to compare. I am looking at the tree as I type and I am seeing a few spots of leaves that are yellow - but it's pretty minimal, maybe 5% and that's probably a generous estimate. |
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| Many trees "mast" -- flower irregularly, tho my experience is that Horsechestnuts flower yearly. And yes, they are quite resistant to frost damage -- one of the earliest bud-breaking trees (at least Yellow buckeye in the Appalachians). Last yr many tree-species flowered very heavily here, this yr just the opposite. Answer to your question tho -- I don't know. If the tree is healthy, don't worry about it. |
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